LOS ANGELES, Nov. 18, 2024 – Tennis Channel, the network app and website (www.tennischannel.com) will be the exclusive home to the Davis Cup Finals November 19-24, featuring the last match in the career of all-time great Rafael Nadal. Nadal’s Spain will face Netherlands Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 11 a.m. ET, the first of four quarterfinals between the eight countries that have qualified to stake their claim as the year’s best tennis nation. The United States, led by US Open finalist Taylor Fritz, is among them, and begins its campaign for a record-extending 33rd Davis Cup Thursday, Nov. 21, at 4 a.m. ET.
Nadal, who has announced his plans to retire after the Davis Cup Finals, produced a professional tennis Hall of Fame plaque for the ages. He is widely considered to be the greatest clay-court player of all time, with 14 singles titles and a 112-4 record at the French Open, beside an unshakable dominance at the surface’s other tour events. He is also the only man or woman to win more than 11 singles titles at one major and was so prolific in Paris that the French Tennis Federation built a statue of him on the French Open grounds before he had retired from the sport.
More than just a clay specialist given his 22 major singles titles, Nadal is one of only three men to win singles crowns at all four majors and the Olympics during his career, and was also an Olympic doubles champion. The former World No. 1 will always be associated with rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, together the “Big Three” who defined a tennis era and are the only men with 20-or-more major singles championships each. Nadal has contributed to five Spanish Davis Cup titles, and will attempt to add to that with one final championship this week.
First contested in 1900 and one of the oldest trophies in sports, Davis Cup predates the Indianapolis 500, football’s Rose Bowl and baseball’s American League. The annual, yearlong tournament culminates with this week’s finals in Malaga, Spain, with a single-elimination bracket of the eight nations that have reached the quarterfinals. Every round offers head-to-head battles between countries over two singles matches and one doubles, with each worth one point. Two points determine the nation that advances.
The winner of Spain and Netherlands will play a semifinal matchup against Germany or Canada on Friday, Nov. 22, at 11 a.m. ET (complete schedule can be found at (https://www.daviscup.com/en/tickets/davis-cup-finals.aspx). Whichever country survives the U.S.-Australia quarterfinal will move on to play either Italy or Argentina on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7 a.m. ET. The Davis Cup championship will take place Sunday, Nov. 24, at 10 a.m. ET.
All Davis Cup Finals competition will be live on Tennis Channel and its streaming app and website, with every match available on demand after its conclusion on the two streaming platforms. Last week the network introduced a revamped streaming service that includes the traditional television channel and a new, $9.99 monthly subscription option, in addition to a $109.99 annual package. Tennis Channel television subscribers now have access to this service at no additional cost.
Tennis Channel’s on-air talent during the Davis Cup Finals includes four men who competed for their countries at the event during their playing days. Analysts Paul Annacone (@paul_annacone) and Sam Querrey both played for the United States in Davis Cup, with Annacone winning a doubles match against Australia in 1986 and Querrey contributing to the team multiple times. Fellow commentator Mark Knowles (@Knowlzee10s) was a mainstay on the Bahamas Davis Cup lineup in the 1990s and early 2000s. Announcer Jason Goodall also grabbed a racquet for the United Kingdom in 1989.
The network will run special editions of its Tennis Channel Live studio show following each of Spain’s Davis Cup matchups. Hosted by award-winning anchor Steve Weissman (@Steve_Weissman), the program will look at Nadal’s rich tennis legacy and assess his country’s Davis Cup Finals performance this week. Weissman will be joined by Annacone and Querrey and report on the U.S. Davis Cup team’s progress as well. The first edition of Tennis Channel Live will air at the end of play Tuesday, Nov. 19.
The American Davis Cup team is Captained by Bob Bryan, recently elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and one half of one of the greatest – if not the greatest – doubles combination ever. In addition to World No. 5 singles star Fritz, Bryan’s roster in Spain includes Rajeev Ram, who won the US Open doubles championship three years in a row from 2021-2023.
Fellow champion Austin Krajicek won doubles at the French Open in 2023 and, like Ram, has been ranked World No. 1 in that side of the sport. Young phenom Ben Shelton has already captivated US Open audiences for the past two years before reaching the age of 22, while winning his way to the singles semifinals in 2023. Tommy Paul, who grabbed the Olympic doubles bronze medal in Paris this summer, rounds out the U.S. squad.
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy and World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain are among the elite young players who will also represent their countries in the 2024 Davis Cup Finals. The two claimed this year’s major singles titles for themselves, with Sinner taking the US Open and Australian Open titles and Alcaraz walking away with Wimbledon and the French Open honors.
Tennis Channel (www.tennischannel.com) and its sibling network T2, which are owned by Sinclair, Inc., are the only television-based multiplatform destinations dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. The networks have the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television in one of the world’s most voluminous sports, with multiple men’s and women’s tournaments and singles, doubles and mixed competition throughout the year. Tennis Channel and T2 have rights at the four majors – US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and Australian Open – and are the exclusive U.S. homes of all men’s ATP World Tour and women’s WTA Tour competitions, Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, and Laver Cup. The network’s app and website house a direct-to-consumer streaming service with the traditional television network and 10,000 hours of live and on-demand matches beside original content. Tennis Channel International brings live competition and network content to markets in Europe and Asia via digital subscription and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels. Additional platform www.tennis.com is the largest digital outlet dedicated to the sport. Tennis Channel also oversees a network of close to 20 podcasts and is a co-owner of Pickleballtv, a joint-venture with the Professional Pickleball Association.
About Sinclair:
Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets affiliated with all the major broadcast networks; and owns Tennis Channel and multicast networks Comet, CHARGE!, TBD., and The Nest. Sinclair’s content is delivered via multiple platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and the nation’s largest streaming aggregator of local news content, NewsON. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed at www.sbgi.net.
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For further information:
Eric Abner, Tennis Channel, 310-314-9445, eabner@tennischannel.com, @TennisChannelPR